Clemson football can assume ‘disrespected’ role yet again

There’s only been one other program to achieve more dominance than Clemson football in the CFB Playoff era and that’s the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Since the inception of the CFB Playoff, it’s been Alabama, Clemson and then everyone else. The pecking order has been defined and the two programs have combined to win five National Championships in the last six years.

Alabama and Clemson have matched up four times in the span of the last six years to come away with a 2-2 split. Of course, the Tigers hold a 2-1 advantage in National Championship games.

Even with the success that Clemson football has had, the Tigers can assume the ‘disrespected role’ in 2021

We’re still two and a half months away from the start of the 2021 season, but the theme from many national analysts when looking at Clemson has been one of skepticism.

Similar to when the Tigers lost Deshaun Watson after the 2016 season, many point to the losses of Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne as reasons why Clemson will take a step back. They look at the past two CFB Playoff appearances (blowout losses to LSU and Ohio State) as a foundation for claims that the Clemson football program is somehow “regressing.”

Just in the past week, we’ve had three national analysts question the Tigers and their legitimacy as CFB Playoff contenders.

247 Sports’ Brad Crawford posted his prediction that the Georgia Bulldogs would hang 31 on the Tigers’ experienced defense in the first game of the season to come away with a win. He also offered this line to go along with the prediction:

"“It’s hard to imagine both of these teams reaching the final four given the rest of the road for each, so the winner of this game certainly has a leg up on the other.”"

That certainly doesn’t sound like an analyst who believes Clemson will be in the CFB Playoff.

While Crawford subtly mentioned it, SEC Network Analyst Paul Finebaum came right out with his thoughts on Clemson football heading into 2021, saying that the Tigers are the most likely of the teams who were in the CFB Playoff last season to not be in the final four this time around.

"“You have Georgia and Clemson in Charlotte, and if Georgia wins this game, and right now I think they’re going to, they vault to number one in the country perhaps,” Finebaum said. “And yes, they still have to deal with Alabama later in the year in the SEC Championship game, but that would probably be about it. I think they’ll get by Florida and everybody else on their schedule. So, we could see a changing of the guard by the end of the first weekend of the regular season.”"

ESPN analyst Heather Dinich also offered criticism of Clemson heading into the fall.

"“One is because I’m not convinced that their offensive line is going to be as good this year,” Dinich said via 247 Sports. “They’ve got questions at wide receiver even if Justyn Ross is cleared to come back, and who is behind their new quarterback in D.J. Uiagalelei? I don’t think Dabo Swinney even knows that. So god forbid he gets hurt, that is a huge question mark at quarterback in terms of depth at that position.”"

These three are just the most recent examples of analysts who are seeming to turn their opinions of Clemson as a national powerhouse away to a potential ‘fader.’ Though no one has come out and said it, there’s a sentiment among many national media members that there a “cracks” in the Tigers’ armor and that we could begin to see the program unravel.

In some ways, they are the same sentiments we heard about Alabama following the 44-16 loss to Clemson in 2016.

We should note that there are still many analysts who love Clemson football and believe the Tigers are going to be major contenders. Others, however, are starting to slowly but surely turn.

So, while it may seem silly for a program that has been at the top of the mountain for the last six years to play the ‘disrespected card,’ it’s becoming more and more prevalent that the Tigers are going to have plenty of ammunition and ‘bulletin board material’ as we enter this season.

You better bet that Dabo Swinney will play up anything and everything he can to motivate his team. He has been one of the best motivators in the country for quite some time and we wouldn’t at all be surprised for him to play the disrespect card with his team as we head into this season.